ISIS 'Hacking Division' Claims it Posted US Troops' Names, Addresses

In this undated file image posted on a militant website on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2014, fighters from the al-Qaida linked Islamic State group, march in Raqqa, Syria. (AP Photo/File)
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Military.comBy Richard Sisk

The Pentagon is investigating a posting by the previously unknown "Islamic State Hacking Division" purporting to list the names and addresses of 100 U.S. troops and calling on ISIS supporters in the U.S. to attack them.

The posting claimed to have obtained information on U.S. military personnel from hacking military servers and data bases, and also from social media.

A Pentagon spokesman said the information could not immediately be verified but "we are looking into it." The military services have repeatedly warned personnel to be careful in their use of social media to include Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram.

In January, the Twitter and YouTube accounts of the U.S. Central Command were compromised by hackers claiming to be Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) supporters. The hackers called themselves the "CyberCaliphate" and posted a number of threatening tweets to U.S. troops on the CentCom account.

The posting by the so-called "Hacking Division" last Friday night included photos with the purported names and addresses of U.S. troops.

"With the huge amount of information that we have from various different servers and databases, we have decided to leak 100 addresses so that our brothers residing in America can deal with you," the posting said.

Retired Army Gen. Carter Ham, the former head of Africa Command, said on the ABC-TV program "This Week," that "This is very disconcerting to the specific families that were identified in this release, but more broadly across the armed services."

"I worry that this increasing sophistication by these Islamic terrorist organization to manipulate social media to their own ends is a very worrying trend," Ham said.

On the same program, Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Tex., chairmain of the House Homeland Security Committee, said that a number of Americans had joined ISIS and had returned to the U.S. - "a number that I can't disclose publicly. They're here in the United States."

McCaul said he was concerned that those radicalized Americans could be inspired to attack U.S. troops "And I think, unfortunately, it would be not so difficult to pull off," McCaul said.